


I Can Be Your Hero

by scarletvisionforever



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: A little angst, Anxiety, F/M, M/M, Superpowers, Yoi - Freeform, Yuri on Ice - Freeform, but not, sort of like boku no hero academia, superhero au, superhero highschool, victor spelled with a 'k', viktuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 00:11:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11092827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletvisionforever/pseuds/scarletvisionforever
Summary: Hero High~ One of the most prestigious Hero training schools in the world, home to a variety of students with an assortment of different amazing powers... except for one.//on hold for now//





	I Can Be Your Hero

**Author's Note:**

> And so it begins-

Yuuri Katsuki stood at his locker, staring into it, looking somewhat lost. First period was what again? Right… Hero Management. He reached into his locker and grabbed the textbook that had been specified for that class before shoving it into his backpack, which was laying on the ground at his feet. After that he had AP Physics, then AP English. Once those two classes were done, he would be able to come back to his locker and get the books he needed for the rest of the day. Just as he was reaching to get his AP Physics textbook, he heard his named being called down the hallway. He turned to the right, moving back a little so he could see past his open locker door, to find that his best friend was barrelling towards him at full speed, holding a wrinkled piece of paper in his hand.

“Yuuri!” Phichit called again, slowing down just a bit so he didn’t ram right into Yuuri’s open locker.

Yuuri released his Physics textbook and sighed. What could Phichit be so excited about at this ungodly hour of 7:30AM?

Phichit finally stopped running about a foot in front of Yuuri and held out the flyer he was holding. “The Senior Mentor program fliers are out!” He managed to say amidst his huffing and puffing.

Yuuri took the flyer from Phichit and looked at it for a moment, then back up at his friend. The poor guy must’ve ran all the way from home to get this to him. Flyers like this often got emailed to students and it was their job to print them out if they pleased. And considering the fact that Yuuri didn’t get a call last night consisting of Phichit screaming to him about this meant that he had likely just discovered and printed it out this morning. But unfortunately for Phichit, Yuuri didn’t share his excitement about this particular event, nor was he even happy the least bit about it’s existence. “Phichit, we’re Juniors. This happens every year.”

Phichit took another few moments to catch his breath before looking up at Yuuri again. “But our chances of being picked this year are greater because we are Juniors!”

Yuuri rolled his eyes. “That’s not true and you know it. Besides, you got picked last year by that Senior girl. What was her name?”  

“Raven,” He answered quickly, “And yes, I know I got picked last year. But this year, Viktor Nikiforov is a senior. Which means that he is going to be one of the people doing the picking!”

At that name, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. Viktor Nikiforov. Oh man, if only to be picked as a mentee by him. What an honor that would be. He had been dreaming about that ever since he found out about the Senior Mentorship programs at Hero High.

“I see that look on your face, Yuuri!” Phichit smiled and turned to open up his own locker, which was directly next to Yuuri’s. “It’s not impossible to be picked by him, you know.”

Yuuri’s hope faded after those words and he frowned. “Yeah, maybe there is a shot for you. But for me? There is absolutely no way in hell.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I literally have no powers, Phichit,” he shot back rather quickly, his tone harsher than he meant it to be. Talking about his lack of powers in this school wasn’t something he was entirely fond of, but it seemed Phichit needed a reminder of why he wasn’t going to get picked. “Viktor is Class A and this Senior Mentor project is a huge part of his final grade. He isn’t going to take a chance at getting a shitty grade because he picks someone who pretty much doesn’t even belong here. The whole point is for a Senior to pick someone who they think will be a good hero one day, and to train them in leadership and to help them with their powers. So what would Viktor Nikiforov, or any Senior for that matter, want with me?”

Phichit frowned. “Yuuri, you need to remember that you didn’t get into this school on accident. You are here because you are just as good as everyone else, despite your lack of powers. Actually, you are probably better than everyone else because you are absolutely brilliant, and kind, and fun, and interesting. And Viktor Nikiforov, or any other senior, would be lucky to have you as their mentee, powers or not.” He sighed quietly and looked at his unopened locker. He offered up a smile, but only got back a frown from his friend. “Hey, it’s Friday, so maybe we can go get ice cream at the place down the street? I’ve been dying to try their new flavor. What was it called again?”

Yuuri grabbed his Physics textbook, then looked at Phichit. His best friend did the right thing changing the subject, as there was no way Yuuri could think of to respond to Phichit’s comments. He appreciated the sentiment, but he definitely didn’t believe Phichit was right. “Chocolate Marshmallow Wammy, I believe.” There was no point being mopey about the reality of things all day, right? He already accepted that he was never going to have a shot at being picked as a mentee, and he had definitely already accepted that Viktor Nikiforov was never going to speak to him either. But that was okay. It wasn’t his fault. He was just born this way, with no powers at all, he couldn’t help that or change it. So what was the point in being angry about it? Sure, it sucked, but at least he wasn’t openly ridiculed by other students for it anymore. Plus, just because he had given up on his dream of being picked as a mentee by Viktor, didn’t mean that he had given up on his dream of being a hero one day. A lot of students who didn’t get picked for the mentor program at Hero High ended up becoming heroes, so why couldn’t he? His lack of powers wasn’t enough to get in the way of his ultimate goal, he still had a bit of hope.

“Yes!” Phichit exclaimed, “That’s the one! I want to get an extra large cup of that! I saw Guang Hong walk down the hall with one two days ago and since then I haven’t been able to get it off my mind.”

Yuuri laughed a little, “Well I just hope it’s good.” He took out his English textbook, then closed his locker. “Remember Hero Time Hazelnut?”

Phichit stuck out his tongue. “Yuck! Don’t even talk about that disgrace for an ice cream flavor. That was probably the most disappointing thing that I’ve ever tasted in my life!” He closed his own locker, then lifted his backpack and slung the strap over his shoulder.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Yuuri said, picking up his own bag and putting it on his back.

Phichit rolled his eyes. “I think all the Katsudon you have eaten over the years has damaged your taste buds, Yuuri. I should take you to the doctor.”

Yuuri shook his head. “You’re just hating because you were so disappointed by that flavor.”

“I would never!” Phichit said, just barely holding back his laughter.

“Phichit! Yuuri!” Someone called from down the hall, causing the two of them to turn around. When they looked, they spotted Minami, a short Sophomore with yellow-blond hair, aside from the red tuft at the front. Everyone said that his hair sort of looked like mustard and ketchup, so he was dubbed Chicken Nugget.

“Hi Minami!” Phichit greeted, turning to fully face the boy when he stopped in front of them.

“You guys have to come quick!” He looked directly at Yuuri. “There is something you will want to see!”

Yuuri and Phichit exchanged glances and shrugged before turning back to Minami and following the younger boy back down the hallway where he came from. They followed him all the way out the front entrance of the school, where they encountered a large crowd gathered to watch something. Height really wasn’t in any of their favors, so they all had to push through the throngs of people in order to see what was going on. When they reached the front of the crowd, they all stopped in their tracks and gasped. Right there in front of them, less than twenty feet away was Viktor Nikiforov, not only was he clad in his official hero outfit, but he was also using his powers to stop a bad guy. It was truly amazing to be able to witness.

“You should really pick on people your own size,” Viktor said, Russian accent prominent, “And age, as well. How old are you? 25?” He had his hands out in front of him, holding them steady as streams of ice flowed from them and onto a rugged looking man’s feet, freezing him in his place. “You would think someone your age would be over stealing lunch money from high school students.”

Yuuri watched Viktor in awe, completely unaware that he looked totally starstruck. Viktor was spectacular, absolutely magnificent. Not only was he the only Class A hero in Hero High, but at age 14, he was already a certified hero, making him the youngest certified hero in history. Now 18 years old, he is registered with The Saviors, aka the most well known and popular hero league in the world, and is being paid every day for stopping bad guys who threaten the lives of those who cannot defend themselves. Plus, by the time he was 15, he had his very own hero uniform, and when he was 17, he had posters made of him which now hang on the walls of rooms belonging to hundreds of kids and teens (including Yuuri). Every student in Hero High looked up to him, especially Yuuri. Sure, there’s only a one year age gap, but that still meant Viktor was Yuuri’s senior. And even if Viktor was a Junior, and the same age as Yuuri, he would still probably look up to the Class A hero. Viktor was exactly the hero that Yuuri had always dreamed of being.

Once the ice around the man’s legs seemed sturdy enough, Viktor let his hands drop to his sides and walked up to the criminal. “You are going to have fun in prison with the rest of the criminals like you.” He smirked and grabbed wallet the man had been holding in his right hand, then turned away from him. When he faced the crowd, they all cheered, and he flashed them one of his famous Viktor Nikiforov smiles. He winked at a group of girls who were all practically swooning before moving to the small boy in a red sweatshirt who was laying on the ground, a mix of fear and astonishment on his face. “Are you alright?” Viktor asked, kneeling down next to the boy.

He nodded. “Y-yeah. I’m o-okay. Thank you.”

Viktor smiled sweetly at the boy, then handed him the wallet that the criminal had stolen from him. “I can promise you that this man is never going to bother you again.”

The boy’s fear faded from his expression and he smiled back at Viktor. “Thank you,” he repeated.

“There is no need to thank me.” He stood and held out his hand to the boy. “It’s my job.” When the boy took his hand, he helped him stand up, then faced the crowd as they erupted into applause once more. Viktor waved, then made his way to the front so he could interact with them. While watching him like this, it could be hard to remember that he was a student just like everyone in the crowd.

“He’s amazing,” Yuuri muttered, completely lost in watching Viktor.

Phichit smirked and nudged his friend, trying to knock him out of his daze. “You know you said that outloud, right?”

Yuuri’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed red. “U-uh… Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“It’s not like I haven’t heard you say that before, Yuuri. You practically say it every day of your life.” He leaned over so he was closer to Yuuri. “And let’s not forget that I know about the posters,” he whispered so the many people around them couldn’t hear.

At that, Yuuri’s entire face went red. “Phichit!” He gasped, “You promised you would never mention… that.”

“I said it quietly,” he said, taking a step away from Yuuri, “Don’t worry. No one heard.” He looked ahead of them again to see that Viktor was making his way around the circle. “What do you think of this new outfit?”

Viktor’s new outfit was a two piece ensemble, unlike his last one. The part of his outfit that drew the most attention was most obviously the top. Instead of black or blue, like most of his previous outfits, Viktor’s top was pink, black, and gold. Most of it was pink, sparkly and pink, and tightly fitted of course. It’s sleeves went down to his elbows disappearing underneath long black gloves which only covered up his thumbs rather than all his fingers. The top also consisted of two black lapels emblazoned with gold designs which met just above his abdomen, revealing the center of his sculpted chest and the inner parts of his collar bone. The shirt was neatly tucked into his pants which had a belt with the gold letters ‘VN’ on the buckle looped through it’s hoops. The _tight_ black pants hugged Viktor in all the right places, making them particularly flattering. On his left mid-thigh was two straps with gold buckles in the front, purely for decoration, but they could easily be mistaken as a gun holster. To complete the outfit, he was wearing boots that went about three quarters of the way up his calf with three straps on the front of them, each with golden buckles as well. “I love it,” replied Yuuri quickly, after giving Viktor a once-over for about the millionth time.

“Me too. Definitely an improvement from the last one.”

“But what kind of guy has that many hero outfits?” Minami added, looking up at Yuuri and Phichit. “I mean, he’s only 18. Most heroes just stick with the same one for their entire career, but Viktor has had at least three.”

“He’s had four,” Yuuri corrected, “And he does it to surprise people. It’s his speciality.”

“What? You mean aside from his Class A power which anyone would kill to have?” Minami looked skeptically at Viktor.

“Yes,” Yuuri said, opting to ignore the sarcastic tone of Minami’s voice.

Minami frowned. “I prefer to look up to someone more down to Earth and realistic.” He crossed his arms, turning back to Yuuri. “Like you. You are someone I can look up to.”

Yuuri just shrugged and gazed at Viktor. Minami was naive. One day, he would understand how great Viktor was.

“Hey Yuuri,” Phichit said, nudging him again, “Maybe you should talk to him when he comes over here.”

Yuuri quickly shook his head. “No. No. There is no way I’m talking to Viktor Nikiforov. Not again. I would just embarrass myself like last time and then I would never be able to show my face in this school again. I was lucky enough to get into this school, I wouldn’t want to have to leave just because I say something stupid to Viktor for the second time.”

“You won’t say anything stupid!” Phichit assured him.

Yuuri scoffed. “Oh please, you know I will. You remember what happened last year.”

“You aren’t talking about...”

“First day of school…” This wasn’t exactly one of his fondest memories, so he didn’t enjoy recalling it, but once again, Phichit needed a reminder of his loser status.

Phichit cringed a bit at the thought of exactly what Yuuri had done last year. “Yeah, I remember now…”

“What happened?” Minami asked, practically bouncing on his heels in anticipation.

“It’s not really something I like telling…” Yuuri said quietly, looking down at his shoes.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad!” Minami assured him. “You can tell me!”

Yuuri and Phichit looked at each other, then at Minami. “Alright fine. But Phichit should tell it.”

Phichit nodded. “So it was the first day of our Sophomore year. And we had literally just walked in the door when we saw Viktor standing near a locker, chatting with someone who I believe was Chris Giacometti…”

_“Look, Yuuri!” Phichit exclaimed happily, pointing to the tall, silver haired man with a hand on his hip talking to a someone just a bit taller than him._

_Yuuri gasped at the sight of him. What a blessing to see Viktor right as they walked into school. “He looks perfect,” he whispered loud enough so only his friend could hear._

_“Honestly Yuuri, you would say he looked perfect if he was covered in mud.” He laughed at his own joke, then looked at Yuuri, to see he was sort of staring off into the distance as if thinking about something. “Oh Yuuri! Don’t tell me you are imagining him covered in mud!”_

_Yuuri’s cheeks flushed and he broke his gaze away from Viktor and looked at the wall next to him so Phichit couldn’t see his face. “N-no, of course not. Why would I ever do that?”_

_Phichit smirked and crossed his arms. “At least tell me that he is has no clothes on in this vision of yours.”_

_Yuuri’s entire face turned red and he covered it up with his hands._

_Phichit laughed again. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He patted Yuuri’s back. “Hey, you have good taste. Viktor is definitely hot, and undoubtedly going to be successful.”_

_“Phichit! You can’t say things like that out loud! We are in public!” Yuuri was honestly mortified. He really hoped no one that was walking around them could hear their conversation It was bad enough it probably looked like they were staring (which they were), but he didn’t want anyone to know that._

_“You should go talk to him, Yuuri!” Phichit encouraged._

_Yuuri quickly shook his head. “Nope. No way. Besides, he is talking to someone else. I wouldn’t want to interrupt.” That was just an excuse to cover up his real fear of actually talking to Viktor, but hopefully Phichit would see it as valid._

_Phichit frowned and looked back at Viktor. By some miracle, at that moment, the student with the dark undercut that Viktor had been talking to walked away, waving to Viktor as he did so. Now Viktor was alone, and turning towards the lockers so he could unlock his own. “Look! Now he is by himself! You can’t miss this opportunity!”_

_Yuuri shook his head again. “Phichit, no. I am not going to talk to him.”_

_Of course Phichit respected his friend and his wishes, but he also thought he was crazy. Yuuri had been pining over Viktor for so many years now, and it didn’t seem fair that the two had never had a real interaction. Everyone should meet their heroes (and crushes) at some point in their lives, right? So why couldn’t Yuuri do it right now?_

_Phichit was going to try and encourage him some more when a Junior boy with black hair and dark eye shadow came running through the door about twenty feet behind them, followed by an angry looking Freshman girl with short red curly hair._

_“Give me back my makeup, Georgi! That was expensive!” The girl yelled. She curled her hand into a fist, pulled her arm back, and then released as if she was throwing something. Originally there had been nothing in her hand, but now there was a small yellow glowing ball flying straight towards Georgi._

_Georgi looked over his shoulder and saw the yellow ball coming towards him and quickly made a sharp turn to the left, right before he reached where Yuuri and Phichit were standing._

_The ball was about two feet behind Yuuri when it exploded. It wasn’t a big explosion, but it was scary enough to cause them both to run forward in an attempt to escape it. Phichit made it down to the other end of the hallway safely, but Yuuri, who had been looking over his shoulder to check how large the explosion was, bumped right into Viktor, who was so mesmerized by the explosion he didn’t even notice Yuuri. The two fell to the ground after colliding and their attention was quickly taken off the explosion and put on each other._

_“I’m so sorry,” Viktor said, standing up and brushing off his clothing a bit. “I wasn’t paying attention.”_

_Yuuri still sat on the ground, eyes wide, jaw dropped. He had just bumped into Viktor Nikiforov. And now Viktor Nikiforov was talking to him. Him! What was he going to say? How should he respond? This could be the first and only impression that Viktor gets of him, he had to make it a good one. Slowly, he stood up, trying to ignore his rapidly beating heart and the dizziness that he was now beginning to feel. No, no. Now was not the time to have an anxiety attack. Not! The! Time! If only he could yell at his brain and tell it to stop being overactive and not overthink the whole situation, but unfortunately that was not how anxiety worked. His life would’ve been a whole lot easier if that was how anxiety worked._

_“Are you okay?” Viktor asked, looking down at Yuuri, seemingly concerned._

_Yuuri nodded. “Yes I am - ”_

“YOU CALLED HIM ICE DADDY?!” Minami shouted, much louder than he had intended to.

Yuuri groaned and slapped his hand on his forehead. “Don’t say it that loudly!” It wasn’t as though Yuuri had actually imagined calling Viktor that one day, because he didn’t. It was just an inside joke between him and Phichit from Freshman year that had decided to resurface at that moment.

“I still can’t believe you did that,” Phichit said, obviously holding back his laughter. It was actually pretty funny, but poor Yuuri was still traumatized by it.

“I don’t think I ever ran away from anything in my life faster than I did after that moment.”

“Do you think he still remembers?” Minami asked.

“I certainly hope not,” Yuuri told him, “But apparently Viktor doesn’t have that great of a memory, so it’s possible he doesn’t. Then again, how could one forget _that?”_

“I’m sure girls call him that all the time!” Phichit announced, trying to make Yuuri feel better about the whole situation. He _almost_ felt bad for coming up with that nickname for Viktor during Freshman year as a joke _._

Yuuri frowned. “Not helping, Phichit.”

“Sorry,” he said, shrugging.

“Guys, he’s getting closer to us,” Minami told them, gesturing towards Viktor who was still making his way around the circle, inching closer and closer to them by the minute. They were in the front, so there was no way he wouldn’t see them all standing there.

“I need to leave,” Yuuri announced. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, stood up straight, and turned away with confidence. He wished he had the courage to stay and talk to Viktor, but if there was even the slightest chance that Viktor would remember what had happened on the first day of school last year, he wanted to try and avoid such a conversation. He made his way back through the crowd, leaving Phichit and Minami behind so he could go back into school. He looked as his watch. _Crap._ It was already 7:55, he was going to be late for homeroom if he didn’t make it up to the fourth floor within five minutes.

He climbed up the many flights of stairs, which seemed to go on forever, then made his way down the hall and to the second door on the right. When he entered the room, he saw that only a three students and the teacher were there. Most of them must’ve been outside watching Viktor, or meandering about the school. Well, sucked for them, but at least he wasn’t going to get detention. He sat down at his desk in the back corner of the room just as the bell rang to signal homeroom was beginning. It wasn’t much longer after that when the quiet hallway suddenly started to fill with voices of students and the sound of doors opening and closing. Slowly but surely, the rest of the students in his homeroom joined him and sat in their own seats. Right next to him sat his friend, Yuuko, who he had been friends with since he was very young.

“Yuuri!” Yuuko said with much excitement, turning to the black haired boy. “Did you see him? Viktor? He was outside stopping a bad guy!”

Yuuri nodded. “I was there. It was amazing,” he kept his voice low, due to the fact that he was much more afraid of judgement than Yuuko was. His friend was _almost_ as much of a Viktor fan as he was, also she was the one who sort of fed his obsession.

_When the two of them were in fifth grade, Yuuko went into their public school’s gymnasium one day and stumbled upon a young boy with long silver hair using his powers. She recognized him as being a year above them, in the sixth grade. Most kids at that age were struggling hard to keep control of whatever powers they were born with, but not this boy, he seemed to have the utmost control over what he was doing. Yuuko was amazed by him, and immediately went to fetch her best friend, Yuuri. She brought him back to the gym where Viktor was now shooting ice at targets lined up against a wall. Yuuri couldn’t help but to think that Viktor was nothing less than magnificent. The way he concentrated, the way he controlled his abilities, the way he moved, Yuuri had never been so mesmerized by anyone in his life before that moment._

_Yuuko went to Yuuri’s house that day after school and they pulled out the yearbook from the previous year. They found out the name of the boy they were watching was Viktor Nikiforov, so they quickly pulled out their computers so they could search for him. They hadn’t really expected anything to be revealed from their search, but boy had they been wrong. Viktor Nikiforov, only 12 years old had already been declared a Class A hero. That was crazy, and historical actually._

_“Yuuri look!” Yuuko exclaimed, pointing at the article on the screen in front of her. “At the age of 11, Viktor Nikiforov, a student from Russia attending Detroit Central, was administered his official Hero Class Determination Test due to his outstanding performance of abilities in and out of school.”_

_Yuuri looked to the article and followed along with the words as Yuuko read._

_“After the test, Viktor was proclaimed as Class A, making him the youngest person to ever be declared such a class. The boy’s ability is Cyrokinesis. As far as we can tell, this allows  him to not only create ice, but also use it as a weapon or a defense in a variety of ways, as well as manipulate ice that has already been formed. His powers seem to still be growing, and the full potential he has with these abilities is unknown, but it is likely that he will one day be a great hero, if not one of the greatest of all time.”_

_“Wow,” was the only word Yuuri could say when Yuuko stopped reading. His eyes were now locked on the small picture of the smiling 11 year old right next to the article._

_“He might become one of the greatest heroes of all time! Isn’t that amazing?”_ _  
_ _All Yuuri could do was nod. The only two things on his mind right now were that Viktor was great, and he wanted to be just like Viktor. He already went to the same grade school as Viktor, so step one was already complete. Of course, the only time he had ever actually seen Viktor in school was earlier that day. Their grade school was huge, from Kindergarten to 8th grade, there was almost 2000 students. Being that Viktor was so amazing, Yuuri was shocked that he would even want to go to Detroit Central, but then again, he wasn’t complaining. He was walking the same halls as a Class A hero, what more could he possibly want?_

Yuuko turned from Yuuri and reached into her pink backpack for a piece of paper. She held the paper out to Yuuri and smiled.

Yuuri took it from her and looked down at it. “Is this your last Health Sciences test?’ He saw at the top of the page filled with multiple choice questions was an ‘85’ circled in red.

“Flip it over!” She instructed, slightly giddy.

Yuuri did what she told him and looked at the back of the paper. At the bottom of 10 more multiple choice questions was a signature in silver sharpie. “Viktor Nikiforov,” he read, in complete awe. “You got him to sign this for you?”

She nodded excitedly. “Yes! But it’s not for me, Yuuri, it’s for you!”

“Me?” He gasped and looked up at her. “But you love Viktor too, why are you giving this to me?”

“It’s just a thank you for helping me out with my Algebra II test. I would’ve failed without you. Oh yeah, and for doing some of my homework for me last week.”

“It was no problem. I know Takeshi was insisting on taking you out and you didn’t have time, but I wasn’t doing anything so-”

“Just take it, Yuuri! You love Viktor way more than I do anyway!”

That was true. Yuuri was the ultimate Viktor fan. It was probably a little weird since Viktor was only a year older than he was, but that never discouraged him from looking up to the Class A hero. “Thank you,” he said quietly after a minute. He wanted to jump up and hug her, but they were in a room with a lot of people, so there was no way he was going to do that. Besides, she would understand how grateful he was without a hug. If anyone knew about Yuuri’s obsession with Viktor more than Phichit, it was Yuuko. So she was aware of just how much this meant to him.

“No problem!” She zipped up her bag, then looked at Yuuri again. “Who do you think Viktor is going to pick as his mentee for the Senior Mentor program?”

Ever since the beginning of their Junior year, the two of them had begun scouting other students, trying to decide who would be the best choice for Viktor. Of course both of them wished they could say they were in the running, but being that Yuuko was a low Class C and Yuuri wasn’t part of any class, they both just decided that Viktor was probably not going to look twice at either of them. It wasn’t something easy for Yuuri to accept, but at this point he had managed it and he could now talk comfortably about who Viktor might chose without getting oddly depressed that it wasn’t going to be him. What he couldn’t do was allow himself to hope that _maybe_ he might be picked, because it would hurt less later on when he didn’t get that email next Friday saying his Senior mentor was Viktor Nikiforov. This was why he got so angry at Phichit earlier that morning when he tried giving him that hope of being picked. Yuuri didn’t blame his friend, Phichit was naturally happy and optimistic, while Yuuri was just the opposite most of the time.

“My best guess is that Freshman, Yuri Plisetsky,” Yuuri told her while carefully sliding the paper she had given him into his bag. “He’s a high Class B from Russia, and I’ve seen him talking to Viktor on multiple occasions. And being that they are from the same country, I’m guessing Viktor probably likes him more than his other options.”

Yuuko nodded. “I would say he is definitely in the running, but my bets are on JJ Leroy. He’s another high Class B, he’s popular, and he’s a Sophomore, which might give him an edge over Yuri.”

JJ Leroy, Yuuri always forgot about him. Or maybe he tried to forget about him. JJ was… the complete opposite of him, cocky, confident, powerful, popular. He was everything Yuuri wished he could be, but in more of a Viktor Nikiforov way. JJ was just pompous most of the time and he didn’t necessarily like it that much. Hopefully Viktor didn’t either.

“I hope he doesn’t pick him,” Yuuri told Yuuko, just as the bell rang to tell the students that it was time to move into their first period classes.

The two of them picked up their bags and filed out of the classroom with the rest of the students. “Why?” Yuuko asked, walking next to Yuuri.

“Because JJ is… he is rude. Sometimes I'm not even sure if he means to be, but he is. So therefore he isn't worthy of being Viktor’s mentee.”

“But isn't Plisetsky just as bad? He’s a Freshman, right? So he’s only been here for like two and a half months. I've heard that he has already had at least ten detentions, plus he yells at teachers, and always gives everyone the dirtiest looks. So is he worthy of being Viktor’s mentee either?”

Yuuri shook his head. “Is anyone?”

Yuuko laughed. “You have a point there, Yuuri.” She smiled and stopped walking. “I have to go the other way for Bio class, but I'll see you at lunch, right?”

“Yep. See ya!” He waved to her, then turned to walk down the stairs. After that, he walked down the stairs and to the first floor where his Hero Management class was held. He sat down in his designated seat, which was closer to the front of the classroom than he would’ve wanted it to be, and took out his textbook. He was already counting down the minutes until this class ended, and it hadn’t even started yet. He loved learning, but this wasn’t necessarily his favorite subject. Being in this class just sort of reminded him that he was never going to be an actual hero. He didn’t want to take it, but the school pretty much forced him into it.

Hero Management was designed for students who had the desire to become a hero sponsor, sponsor a hero league, or create a hero league. So basically, it was for anyone who couldn’t be a hero and didn’t just want an average civilian job. Doing one of the three things that Hero Managment taught was the closest anyone in this class would likely get to the real heroes, which was sad but true. But what was even more sad was the fact that 80% of people who tried to get into the Hero Management business failed. Why? Well, it was simple. The reason was a lack of funds. If you didn’t have money you wouldn’t be able to donate to and sponsor heroes or leagues, much less create your own. And while some students were born into families with money, most weren’t, so their dreams were pretty much dead before they could even get out into the real world.

It was just another long, boring class where Yuuri sat diligently and took notes, waiting patiently for the bell to ring. Sure, he wasn’t exactly fond of the class, but there was no way he was going to let himself get anything below an A in it. That was unacceptable.

When the bell finally rang and Yuuri began to pack up his books, he noticed someone was standing in front of his desk, looking down at him. He didn’t look to see who it was right away, out of fear that it might be one of his old grade school bullies, back to steal his lunch money and make fun of him for not being born with powers.

“Yuuri,” the person in front of him said, causing Yuuri to sigh with relief that it was the voice of his teacher, Mr. Cialdini.

Yuuri looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, Mr. Cialdini. Can I do something for you?”

He shook his head. “No, not for me. But you can do something for yourself, Yuuri.”

Yuuri stood up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “What’s that?”

Mr. Cialdini reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of blue paper. He unfolded it and handed it over to Yuuri, smiling.

Yuuri looked down at the paper and frowned. “This is the flyer for the Senior Mentor program. What about it?”

“I want you to go, Yuuri. I want you to go to the event on Monday and make an impression on those Seniors.”

Yuuri held back a scoff. “You want _me_ to make an impression? How am I supposed to do that?” He folded the paper back up and put it in his own pocket. He had already been planning on attending because Phichit would never let him live it down if he didn’t, but like every year, he would stand there around the gym with his classmates and wait for a Senior to approach him, which would never actually end up happening.

“Be confident, Yuuri. You are smart and talented, you just don’t believe in yourself.”

Yuuri frowned. “I wouldn’t use the word talented to describe me, Mr. Cialdini.”

The teacher crossed his arms and shook his head, disappointed. “Just consider it, Yuuri. You must remember how you got into this school and stop selling yourself short.”

The bell for the next period rang before Yuuri could respond, and he had no choice but to start moving towards the door of the classroom. “Have a nice day, Mr. Cialdini,” he called before walking out of the class and back towards the stairwell. _Talented._ Hah! That was a good one. He shook his head in disbelief as he trudged up to the third floor where his AP Physics class was.

He was late to this class, but it was no big deal because his teacher, Miss. Park really loved him. That was likely because he did all his homework on time, and aced all of his tests. Plus, he had a love for Physics that was unmatched by any other student in his class. He had taken Honors Physics his Freshman year, Honors Applied Physics last year, and now he was in AP Physics. Unfortunately, after AP Physics, Hero High stopped offering Physics courses because they were only popular among a few students including Yuuri. In fact, the AP class he was in right now consisted of eight students, six of which were Seniors, plus Yuuri and one other Junior named Leo. It was a small, but a considerably tight-knit class full of nice people who Yuuri was upset he wouldn’t be in class with day after day when he became a Senior the next year.  

The class Yuuri was in right after Physics was AP English, which was another small class, but he didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Physics. Yuuri wasn’t necessarily a fan of reading, but he was definitely a fan of writing. In fact, he did it on an almost daily basis, using it as a technique of escape and stress relief. He didn’t share this with anyone he knew face to face, but rather with people on the internet who were likely using writing for the same reasons as him. He definitely didn’t need to give people in school yet another reason to look down upon him as someone who doesn’t belong there.

After English, Yuuri returned to his locker on the second floor so he could return the textbooks from his first three class periods, and retrieve the books he needed for everything else. Right after his locker stop he would be going to AP Calculus, a class in which he was the only Junior. The textbook for that class was huge sadly, and having to lug it around all day was a pain, despite the fact that he quite enjoyed math. After Calc was lunch with Phichit. It wasn’t just the two of them though, they also sat with Yuuko, and Yuuko’s boyfriend, Takeshi. The four  of them usually had a good time at lunch, despite Takeshi sometimes picking on Yuuri for being so hopeful about becoming a hero one day despite his lack of powers. It was all in good fun though, Takeshi never really wanted to hurt Yuuri.

After lunch was AP History III. He honestly didn’t care much about history, unless they were learning about some big hero fights that affected history in some way. That was the only time he actually became interested in the subject. Once History was over, he had to exit the main building and walk over to the school’s Center of The Arts for Dance III. He was the only boy in that class, but he absolutely loved it, so despite the ridicule he also got for that, he wasn’t going to give it up. And finally, his last class of the day was Heroes and Villains. This was a class only offered to Juniors which focused on different heroes and villains throughout history, their battles, and what made them who they were. It was a pretty easy class, but he took great interest in the topic he was learning.

After collecting all of his books, Yuuri walked down to the first floor for his Calc Class. This class was a breeze for him. For some reason, all math just clicked when he was trying to do it, so he was easily able to ace every math test he was given, and solve every problem he was challenged to solve. He was so good at this subject, that some Seniors in the class were constantly asking him to help them out with their work. Although Yuuri often got nervous around Seniors, he never refused to help and ended up making friends with some of them because of it. But today in class a lot of the Seniors avoided eye contact with him, instead of smiling and waving like they did every other day.

Georgi Popovich, a Senior boy who wore dark eye shadow and lipstick on a daily basis, was the only person who approached him on this day. He was the same boy who was running from the red headed girl on the first day of school last year and partially caused Yuuri to have one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. “Hello Yuuri,” he said, not smiling. That wasn’t necessarily unusual though because Georgi really only smiled when he was around his girlfriend, Anya. Other than that, he was quite serious all the time, and could be very emotional as well.

Yuuri looked at Georgi, who sat in the seat next to him. “Hey,” he responded, trying to seem unaffected by the fact that the rest of the seniors were ignoring him. Did they find out something about him? Did they remember the whole Ice Daddy incident? Did someone start a rumor? He had no idea what it could be. He thought he had acted relatively normal that day.

“You’re upset,” Georgi observed, crossing his arms and giving Yuuri a sympathetic look.

Yuuri just shrugged. He couldn’t deny he was upset with Georgi because Georgi was an empath, which meant he could sense what others were feeling. It was only a Class C power, but still a million times better than having no powers.

“And everyone else here is nervous,” he said, lowering his voice so the rest of the Seniors around them couldn’t hear.

Yuuri furrowed his brows. “Why? We don’t have a test today.”

Georgi chuckled dryly. “No, no. They are nervous because of Senior Mentor week.”

That made sense. It was a big week, most Seniors _should_ be nervous about it. But why would he tell Yuuri this? “That’s understandable. It’s an important part of their grade, and yours, of course.”

“It’s not the week itself they are worried about right now,” Georgi informed him.

“Then what?”

“Well... Yuuri you are a Junior.”

He couldn’t help but to roll his eyes, regretting it immediately after. “Sorry,” he apologized, hoping he hadn’t made Georgi upset with him. It seemed the man was only trying to help him out. “Umm… but why are they nervous because I’m a Junior? It’s not like that’s changed since the beginning of the year.”

“Well… how can I put this.” He looked around at the rest of the class, then back at Yuuri. “It’s because they don’t plan on picking you for the program and they don’t want to hurt your feelings if you ask because you are very kind to them. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I thought that it might be beneficial for you to know why everyone seems extra jittery around you today. I didn’t want you to think you did anything wrong, because you didn’t.”

Yuuri’s mood dropped at that response. He obviously knew he wasn’t getting picked for the program, it was something he had accepted. But to actually hear it from a Senior, well, it hurt a lot more than he had expected it to. This wasn’t the first time someone had said he wasn’t going to be picked, but everyone else who said it was from other grades, never straight from the Senior class. Why did Georgi have to go and say that to him?

“I’m sorry, Yuuri,” Georgi immediately said after seeing Yuuri go from looking only moderately sad, to completely depressed.

Yuuri nodded and stood up. He could suddenly feel his anxiety taking a strong hold on him knowing all of those Seniors were looking upon him with pity. They thought he was pathetic, he already knew he was pathetic, but it hurt knowing for a fact that they actually thought it too. It was too much to handle right now, and he didn’t want everyone who already looked down upon him watching as he broke. So he picked up his bag and walked out of the class, heading straight for the bathroom on that floor. This wasn’t the first time Yuuri had gone into the bathroom for sanctuary, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was the only place he could hide without anyone seeing him, where he could collect his thoughts in peace aside from the occasional flush of a toilet or the flowing of water from a sink.

He locked himself in the stall closest to the wall, closed the lid of the toilet, and sat down. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, so he took his glasses off and placed them on top of the toilet paper container on the wall. He covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes, trying to take deep breaths. Whenever his anxiety took over, he felt like he was suffocating, and it was his own mind that was choking him. So many self-deprecating thoughts swirled around his brain, telling him that he was worthless, that he didn’t belong there, that he was a loser, on and on and on. There was even times when he felt like he could hear everyone else’s thoughts, especially when their eyes were trained on him, and they seemed like they were looking upon him with nothing but pity. It was only when he could get control over these thoughts that the suffocating feeling went away. Sometimes it took only a few short minutes to get a grip over this, and other times it took much longer. This was one of those times when he felt it would take longer than a just a few minutes.

He had a feeling something like this would happen when Senior Mentor week approached. This was his last chance to be picked, his last chance to really prove he was worth something in this school. But he knew telling himself that would not help. He wasn’t going to get picked, and he was never going to be able to prove himself. What Senior wanted to have a powerless student as their mentee? He wished he could say there was some Senior maybe in the Civilian Class who would pick him, but there wasn’t, there was no Civilian Class students in the school, and there was certainly no students with no powers, and that made him feel more alone than anything. It was called Hero High, after all, so what was a regular person doing there when everyone knows that no person born without powers has never become a hero.

He cursed himself at moments like these for being naive and stupid, for trying to follow his dream of becoming a hero by attending this school. If he had just gone to some regular high school with students of the Civilian Class, or students with no powers like him, maybe high school wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe there wouldn’t be this enormous weight on his shoulders to prove himself to the school, to his family, to the world. But that weight was always there, and it was absolutely crushing. It was like he was in an empty room, and every time he would take a step closer to the door, the room would get smaller and the door would get further away. He could reach and jump for the door, but it was no use, getting there was impossible. He would never find out what was on the other side of that door.

Yuuri didn’t realize how long he had been in the bathroom until the bell rang to signal the end of fourth period. He sniffled, wiping away a few stray tears and put his glasses back on. He always felt a bit better after crying, but it still hurt to face the reality of things.

He left the bathroom and walked out of the building so he could go the cafeteria. As he walked, he kept his head down and avoided making eye contact with everyone, just in case his eyes were red and puffy from his crying session. The last thing he needed was everyone going around the school talking about how a Junior boy was crying, although, that might happen anyway because the Seniors in his class could most likely tell what he was going to do when he left the classroom.

He tried not to think about that while he sat down at his lunch table and waited for Phichit and the others to show up. He pulled his brown bag lunch out of his backpack and reached his hand inside to find a container of sushi with a note stuck to the top. It had a heart drawn messily on it, which he carefully took off and put in his backpack. He would have to remind himself to thank his mom later. Just as he was popping off the lid, he felt the weight of the seat shift a bit and looked up to see Phichit was now sitting next to him.

“Hi Yuuri!” Phichit greeted with a big smile. “So today I-” he paused when he made eye contact with Yuuri, leaning in a bit closer to him. “Are you okay?” He asked quietly, reaching a hand over to touch his best friend’s shoulder.

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine now,” he answered in a tone that was barely above a whisper. He didn’t really want to talk about what happened, and tried to communicate that to Phichit by looking away and grabbing chopsticks out of his brown paper bag.

Phichit nodded and offered Yuuri a reassuring smile before removing his hand from his shoulder and taking his own lunch out. “Anyways, so today I was walking down the hallway and I saw Yuri Plisetsky yelling at Viktor. Can you believe that?”

Yuuri nodded. “Yuuko told me today that-”

“What did I tell you?” Yuuko asked, sitting down across from Yuuri, followed by Takeshi, who sat across from Phichit.

“That Yuri Plisetsky is really temperamental.”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, he is crazy. Like almost villain level crazy.”

Takeshi chuckled. “That shrimp is way too small to become a villain. No one would ever take him seriously.”

“Poor guy,” Yuuko said, pulling out her lunch. “I think he is sort of cute for an angry little… uhhh... What’s a good word to describe him?”

“Fairy?” Takeshi suggested, laughing at his own joke.

“I was thinking kitten!” Phichit said happily, causing everyone else to laugh.

“You guys know he would probably slit our throats if he heard is talking like this,” Yuuri informed them, “Let’s not forget he is a Class B.”

“Whatever,” Takeshi scoffed, “That guy is too tiny to take out an actual cat. He is all bark and no bite.”

“I think he’s all meow and no scratch,” Phichit corrected, earning himself some more laughter from his friends.

“Do you even know what powers he has, Yuuri?” Yuuko asked after the laughter died down.

He nodded. “Flexibility, agility, and what he likes to call ‘knife shoes.’”

“What the hell does that mean?” Takeshi asked.

“Basically he has one claw that sort of looks like a knife which comes out of each foot. It’s kind of scary actually. There is a Senior in the school who can do the same thing, except she also has claws that come out of her knuckles too. I think her name is Laura.”

Phichit nodded. “He is definitely getting picked for Senior Mentor.”

“That’s insane,” Takeshi commented, “He is only a Freshman.”

Yuuko nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it. The Seniors should only be allowed to chose Juniors and not have the entire school to pick from.”

“It’s a stupid system,” Yuuri said while picking up a piece of sushi with his chopsticks, “But it’s always how the program has been run since the beginning of Hero High. Wouldn’t make sense for them to change it now.”

“Yeah. But if they did, then Viktor would have to pick someone from the Junior class, making each of our odds 1 in 100 to be picked by him instead of 1 in 300!” Phichit took a bite out of his sandwich and smiled.

“Man, if only I could be picked by Viktor,” Yuuko said, looking off into the distance dreamily, “That would be amazing.”

“Hey! You already have a man right here,” Takeshi said, crossing his arms.

“Takeshi, if I got picked by Viktor, I think you would have to let me go so I could have a proper chance to fall in love with him,” she teased.

Takeshi frowned. “Oh please, Yuuko. Viktor Nikiforov isn’t interested in you.”

Yuuko gasped and hit Takeshi lightly in the arm. “Rude!”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! I just mean that I think he is with someone already.”

Phichit nodded. “Yeah, Christophe Giacometti. I see the two of them hanging together all the time, getting awfully close to one another. Plus, they post lots of pictures together on Herogram.”

Yuuri couldn’t help but to be upset by this accusation they were making of Viktor. None of them knew for a fact that he was with anyone, so they shouldn’t be saying it. Or… maybe it was perfectly okay and he was just jealous of the idea that Viktor was with someone who wasn’t him. _Wow,_ jealous of someone who he has literally never had a conversation with in his life. This crush was _bad._ He needed to get over this and move on.

Yuuko shook his head. “No way! Chris is with someone else! In his Herogram bio he has hearts and a date next to them.”

“How do you know they aren’t for Viktor?” Takeshi asked.

“Because Viktor doesn’t have hearts and a date in his bio!” Yuuko countered.

Phichit nodded. “She has a point there.”

Takeshi rolled his eyes. “You guys are ridiculous.”

Yuuri was going to butt into the conversation and try to change the subject, but suddenly he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. He tuned out whatever everyone was saying and looked up, glancing around the room slowly. When his eyes reached the back corner of the room, they locked with piercing blue eyes, so he instinctively tore his away. _Oh my gosh._ That was Viktor. He turned back to where Viktor was sitting and saw that the silver haired hero was now chatting happily with those at his table, smiling and laughing. Maybe Viktor hadn’t been staring? Maybe it was just an illusion? He definitely needed to get some sleep when he got home. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Phichit lightly hitting him in the arm.

“Yuuri!”

“Yes?” he asked, a little irritated that he was being disrupted from his thoughts.

“You looked lost. Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired is all.” He ate another piece of sushi and faked a smile for Phichit. His best friend could obviously see right through it, but he was glad he didn’t push anymore. Yuuri needed a few minutes to cope with that fact that Viktor Nikiforov _might’ve_ been staring at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter of my latest fic!  
> I encourage you to leave comments on here and let me know what you thought! Or you are welcome to hit me up on tumblr @viktorlovesyuuri (or @scarletvisionforever) <3 I love getting asks and whatnot.
> 
> Just to clarify, in case anyone is confused- I based the Hero High class schedule off of my old high school which had 8 class periods a day that were about 45 minutes each with 4 minutes between each class period. In the morning there was a 20 minute homeroom period where you just sat there for attendance and talked to friends. 
> 
> Some of my inspiration for this fic was taken from the anime Boku No Hero Academia, which is a super amazing anime. If you haven't watched it, you should! 
> 
> The whole fic is named after the song "I Can Be Your Hero Baby" By Enrique Iglesias -- and the 1st chapter title is also named after a line from that song.
> 
> A special thanks to @cookiesandcream for reading an earlier version of this chapter and encouraging me to post it! She is @star--dust on tumblr and she is freaking amazing!! (her story 'p.s i love you' actually killed me). So give her a follow and read her stuff! She is actually thebomb.com with the most fantastic writing skills.
> 
> Have a lovely day/night!! :D
> 
> PS: Yuuri's love for Physics was a nod to Centripetal Force by @braveten <3 If you have not read this fic, you should go do it right now-- as well as the rest of her fics because they are all amazing! And follow her tumblr as well - @actualyuuri :D


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